1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-floor radiant heating system having channels for receiving tubing wherein flares are provided at the ends of the channels to provide a channel alignment tolerance between the respective channels of adjacent panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
One common home heating method includes the use of forced-air furnaces. While these systems work well for their intended purposes, their use is not without some limitations. Forced-air systems work by distributing heated air into desired rooms. The heat has a tendency to quickly rise towards the ceiling, which is inefficient. Rooms, particularly those with tile or slate flooring, may feel cold. Rooms with hard wood flooring may also feel cold. Homeowners and occupants may have reduced enjoyment of rooms with these types of flooring during the winter months when their home is heated with a forced air system.
In contrast, many homes can be constructed with radiant in-floor heating. Benefits of the in-floor heating in the winter months are well known, and include the comfortable use and enjoyment of rooms with natural flooring or other types of solid flooring. This is traditionally accomplished by locating tubing in the floor when pouring the concrete sub-floor. One drawback of this type of installation is that any punctures or leaks in the tubing can be difficult and costly to fix. Also, this type of installation is only practical for a new construction. It is not practical to install this type of system when remodeling a home. Several inches of concrete may be necessary, and the room may not be able to accommodate the required thickness of the concrete. Also, use of several inches of concrete is impractical for use in all levels but the bottom level of a home due to the weight of the concrete. A further drawback of recessing the tubing in concrete is the built-in inefficiency of allowing some heat pass to the ground below the concrete. This is due to the lack of insulation below the concrete.
A product having the name Warmboard exists utilizing panel type sub-flooring. One drawback with this type of panel is that the channels for receiving the heating tubes have generally vertical side walls. The heating tubes are simply placed within the channels. Caulk or another type of adhesive is necessary to hold the tubes in place. It can be difficult to remove adhesively secured tubes if they are in need of repair or replacement.
Another system in use utilizes a tube mounted to the underside of a sub-floor between the joists. Insulation is then placed below the tube and between the joists so that the heat dissipated from the tube rises through the sub-floor instead of into the room below. It is impractical to install this type of system during a remodeling job when the room below the room where the heating system is being installed is a finished room. This is because the finished ceiling will impair access to the joists.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,366 to Werner is entitled Support Plate for Guiding Heating Pipes of a Floor or Wall Heating System. Looking particularly to FIG. 3 of the Werner patent, it is seen that this patent discloses a heat conducting layer, and a recess that forms part of a circle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,814 to Fennesz discloses a system for tempering a room. This system has duct for allowing air to pass through the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,152 to Alsberg shows a floor heating system. The system has panels overlaid with a heat conducting surface embossed with a matching groove pattern. The panels have structural characteristics of a subflooring panel. FIG. 3 shows a modular panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,378 to Fiedrich is entitled Radiant Floor and Wall Hydronic Heating Systems. This patent shows a plate for holding a tube in intimate thermal contact so that the plate is heated by conduction. The plate has a radiating surface that radiates the heat to an area. U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,523 also to Fiedrich is entitled For Radiant Floor, Wall and Ceiling Hydronic Heating and/or Cooling Systems Using Metal Plates that are Heated or Cooled by Attached Tubing that is Fed Hot or Cold Water, Techniques of Improving Performance and Avoiding Condensation when Cooling. A thermal barrier is provided between the panels and the finished floor to prevent “hot spots”. U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,980 further to Fiedrich in entitled Dry Installation of a Radiant Floor or Wall Hydronic Heating System, Metal Radiating Plates that Attach to the Edges of Side-By-Side Boards and Provide Metal Slots for Holding Hot Water Tubing. The metal plate is shown to be in two separate pieces that are attached to edges of spaced apart boards. The metal plates combine to hold the tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,382 to Fitzemeyer shows a radiant heating system pipe mounting plate. The plate is disclosed to be a flat sheet with a groove in the upper surface. A pipe is retained in the groove by a ridge running the length of the groove so that the pipe can be snapped into the groove. A top is also shown for making a flat surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,185 and pending application with publication number 2003/0218075 to Muir shows a thermal heating board comprising a nonstructural board with a recess. A pipe can be located within the recess. A film or metal can also be provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,298 to Corbett, entitled Modular Cementitous Thermal Panels for Radiant Heating, shows panels made of Portland cement or other curable cement.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,372 to Pickard shows a heat tubing receptacle for tightly gripping the heat tubing. Sheet metal heat transfer plates may be attached to the tubing receptacle.
Pending application with publication number 2004/0040693 to Fiedrich shows forming a metal sheet in a unitary fashion by folding it longitudinally to provide protuberances of double thickness for holding tubing. Pending application with publication number 2006/0144578 also to Fiedrich shows modular panels having special purpose bus tracks for routing tubing.
A drawback of using panels generally has been the small allowable tolerance between adjacent panels. Said another way, the channels must align within a very little margin of error in order for the channels to receive the tubing. The panels typically have channels with constant dimensions throughout their respective lengths. The respective ends of channels of adjacent panels therefore have to be aligned properly in order for the tubing to be placed within the channels.
In practice, the installers lay out the panels, place the tubing in the desired channels, and then fasten the panels to the sub-floor. Using adhesives to connect the panels to the sub-floor becomes quite difficult if the tubing is inserted into the channels before the panels are fixed to the sub-floor. The use of adhesive is therefore impractical when installing the panels in this manner, even-though adhesives may be more advantageous than nails in some circumstances. Further, it is possible that relatively large amounts of stress could be placed on the tubing at the interface between adjacent panels as adjacent panels shift. This sheer stress can damage the tubing.
Thus there exists a need for an in-floor heating system that solves these and other problems.